SITE VISITS

OVERVIEW

Step into a storybook setting and discover how Oakland’s early literacy ecosystem is bringing culturally and linguistically responsive learning to life.

 

This “Made in Oakland” site visit at Children’s Fairyland highlights local leaders who are making responsive literacy a reality in early learning. Participants will enjoy a guided tour of Fairyland, explore the art of puppetry and storytelling, and engage in conversation with Executive Director Kymberly Miller and Fairyland’s educational staff about how belonging, joy, and identity create a foundation for meaningful, engaging, and rigorous literacy learning.

 

Participants will explore community-led literacy initiatives and community microgrants as strategies for growing young readers through a conversation between Julia Sen, Reading Everywhere Manager at the Oakland Literacy Coalition, and Abby Thaker, consultant with Free Library of Philadelphia Foundation’s Read by 4th initiative and community grantees from both programs. Drawing on their experiences and insights, they’ll engage in a dialogue about what’s working, lessons learned, and opportunities to strengthen community-driven approaches to early literacy.

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This visit is designed for early childhood educators, TK–3 teachers, literacy coaches, family engagement specialists, librarians, and community partners committed to equity and early literacy.  Come ready to explore, connect, and imagine what’s possible when communities put children, stories, and belonging at the heart of literacy. Please wear comfortable walking shoes and dress in layers for Oakland’s weather.

OVERVIEW

Located in the heart of West Oakland, St. Vincent's Day Home has provided early childhood education and family services to children since 1911. During your visit, you'll have the unique opportunity to observe St. Vincent's early education classrooms in action. We will have an interactive Q&A session with teachers and staff and engage in an in-depth discussion of St. Vincent's approach to integrating family literacy and wraparound family support services into daily programming for children and families.

OVERVIEW

At Korematsu Discovery Academy, an Oakland Unified elementary school, 99% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, 40% are English learners, and about one in five students turns over each year. Every student in its first Ignite Reading intervention cohort was reading on grade level in foundational skills by the end of fourth grade.

 

Principal Amie Akuma and her team built a schoolwide commitment to finding reading gaps early and acting fast, sharing ownership of every child's progress. Ignite Reading's one-to-one tutoring connects those efforts through dedicated tutors, daily instruction matched to the exact foundational reading skills students need, and session data.

 

On this visit, you'll:

 

- Watch tutoring live and see how sessions meet students where they are.

- Hear leaders and staff share best practices for implementation success.

- Learn how Korematsu uses data to decide which students need what support, and when.

- Translate observations into concrete next steps through a facilitated debrief.

 

If you've ever wondered whether early, intensive reading intervention can hold up in a high-need, high-mobility school, come see it for yourself. This visit pairs with Amie's symposium intensive on Korematsu's implementation journey and multi-year outcomes and Ignite's session on designing a system that teaches every child to read. It's the best way to see that story up close.

OVERVIEW

Experience rigorous, joyful dual-language instruction in practice at Yu Ming Charter School, California’s first Mandarin immersion charter and a unionized public school serving nearly 1,200 TK–8 students. Through classroom observations and conversations with teachers and leaders, participants will explore how Yu Ming builds bilingualism and biliteracy while maintaining coherent, academically ambitious instruction across languages and grade levels.

 

See how educators align around a shared instructional vision that integrates Structured Literacy, explicit instruction, student discourse, rigorous academics, and whole-child supports. A 2019 and 2025 National Blue Ribbon School and 2020 and 2023 California Distinguished School, Yu Ming demonstrates what is possible when multilingualism is treated as an asset and students have sustained access to an academically ambitious dual-language program. Participants will leave with concrete ideas for strengthening language development, instructional coherence, and biliteracy in their own schools and systems.

OVERVIEW

Year Two Implementation In Berkeley Unified

See Fishtank ELA in action during its second year of implementation in a K–5 school. Participants will observe classroom instruction and explore what it takes to move from adopting a high-quality curriculum to implementing it well and sustainably.

 

The visit will highlight job-embedded coaching, professional learning, and the school- and district-level conditions that support high-quality implementation. Participants will have opportunities to see how educators are using Fishtank ELA to build students’ knowledge, literacy skills, and capacity as critical readers, writers, and thinkers and to learn how leaders and coaches are supporting teachers as they deepen their practice.

OVERVIEW

Spend the morning getting to know what foundational literacy looks like in the context of Newcomer Multilingual Learners in a high school. Attendees will have the opportunity to learn more about the current state and history of the literacy department at OIHS and see what systems are in place to allow all students to develop English language and literacy skills, including explicit phonics instruction, vocabulary building, and comprehension work. Attendees will also observe mixed grade (9-11th grade) literacy classrooms with time to debrief and ask questions at the end.